Fairfield Residential Acquires Baker Chocolate Factory in Boston

Beacon Communities sells a 133-unit asset in Boston to an affiliate of Fairfield Residential; Levin Realty completes a 559-unit acquisition in Greenville, S.C.; and a 12-unit Manhattan loft building trades for $12 million.

Boston—Beacon Communities has completed its disposition of Baker Chocolate Factory Apartments, a 133-unit urban infill community located in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. An affiliate of Fairfield Residential picked up the asset for $24.1 million in a sale brokered by CBRE/New England’s Capital Markets team.

Baker Chocolate Factory Apartments consists of three attached historic renovated mill building that were originally constructed in the 1800s to serve as the headquarters for Baker Chocolate Co. The late Robert Kuehn of Boston’s Keen Development converted the mills into apartments in the mid 1980s. Beacon Communities acquired the asset in 2008 and undertook a major capital improvement campaign that renovated unit interiors, performed common area upgrades and converted from oil to gas heat and hot water.

“We are pleased to have facilitated this transaction on behalf of the seller,” says CBRE/NE’s Biria St. John, executive vice president and partner. “Baker Chocolate Factory represents a truly one-of-a-kind mill conversion that underwent significant upgrades under Beacon’s watch and is now benefiting from the recent rise in rents in the urban areas.”

Biria worked with Simon Bulter, also executive vice president and partner at CBRE/N.E., in representing the seller and procuring the buyer. Amenities at the asset include elevator access, a fitness center, and courtyards and picnic areas along the Neponset River.

Greenville, S.C.—Chicago-based Levin Realty Advisors is the new owner of Crestmont at Thornblade and Thornblade Park, a 559-unit portfolio of assets located in Greenville, S.C. Plans call for a value-add play with comprehensive interior upgrades. The ARA Carolinas team of Blake Okland, John Heimburger, Dean Smith and Sean Wood represented an undisclosed seller.

Constructed in 1998, Crestmont at Thornblade Park is a garden-style community comprised of 266-units with an average unit size of 1,024 square feet. Thornblade Park was constructed in 1997 and is comprised of 293-units with an average unit size of 1,128.

“The portfolio garnered a high level of investor interest,” says Okland. “Not only are they quality assets located in a strong market but they also offered attractive in-place and assumable debt with five years of remaining term which made the investment opportunity particularly enticing to potential investors.”

Manhattan apartment trades for $12M in Flatiron district

New York—A five-story, 12-unit loft-style elevator building in the Flatiron district of Manhattan has traded for $12 million in a Marcus & Millichap-brokered sale. The asset, located at 7 East 19th St., was sold and acquired by private New York-based investors.

Peter Von Der Ahe, Scott Edelstein and Seth Glasser, all in Marcus & Millichap’s Manhattan office, represented the seller. Edelstein, Von Der Ahe and Glasser, along with Sean Beuche and Christopher Sjurset, the latter two also in the firm’s Manhattan office, advised the buyer.

“With floors two through five delivered vacant upon sale, the property gives the new owner many options, including occupying a portion of the building and leasing the remaining space in a live-plus-income scenario or converting the apartments on floors two through five into luxury rentals,” says Edelstein.

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